Holiday parties can really ramp up your electric bill. Between the extra usage all-around your home to the cooking, dishes, and lights, you might be wondering how you can save a buck this season. Here are some ideas for you.
- Turn your decorations off before you go to bed. Leaving them on all night can be a significant factor in your energy bill. You can hook them up to an automatic timer, or simply set yourself a reminder. You should also consider leaving them off until people are scheduled to arrive. Any way you can reduce the electricity usage, the better.
- Turn down your thermostat before your guests arrive. Between the cooking and all those bodies, your home will stay plenty warm. Also, this keeps your unit from needing to work as hard to bring the temperature down when everyone is already there. Turn it down beforehand, and everything will balance out.
- Use your dishwasher instead of hand washing dishes. Handwashing uses more energy than the dishwasher. Try to fit as much as you can in the dishwasher (without overcrowding it), and wash the leftover dishes or only the non-dishwasher safe ones.
- Cook everything at once that you can. Adjust your cooking times with dishes that cook at similar temperatures. If a dish cooks at 350 and another at 325, put them in together and cook the lower temperature dish for less time than you would usually have.
- Let your leftovers cool before putting them in the fridge. If you put hot food in your fridge, it will work twice as hard to keep everything else cool.
- Use your slow cooker while prepping. You can start a number of sides and dressings in the slow cooker the day before. They are low wattage, so a prolonged use won’t cost you more than 20-30 cents.
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